After baking that pie tonight, I got the bright idea to deal with the two pumpkins sitting on my counter. So about two hours into these ordeal, here is my progress:
1 tray of pumpkin seeds, washed and drying for roasting tomorrow
1 tray of pumpkin roasted and now cooling to peel and puree
1 tray of pumpkin just in the oven for an hour and then cool/peel/puree
1 giant bowl full of peeled, cubed pumpkin waiting to go into an equally giant pot of boiling water for 30 minutes and then mash and puree
Methinks I shouldn't have started this so late in the day. At least I have tasty pumpkin beer to go with my exploits.
Oh well after all of this I should have a decent amount of pumpkin puree to bake my pumpkin loving heart out.
Notes:
1. Peeling pumpkin is tricky
2. Pumpkin is slippery
3. There is pumpkin all over my kitchen.
Love pumpkin!! Have you tried cooking it in a pressure cooker? That's what we use - we have 9 pie pumpkins we grew in the garden this year - and the pressure cooker is perfect.
I don't peel it before I cook it - is there a reason that you do? Once it's cooked it slides right off the peel.
Pumpkin beer - yum - we had Saranac pumpkin beer Saturday night. So good!!
(10-26-2009 09:58 AM)catsnotkids Wrote: [ -> ]Love pumpkin!! Have you tried cooking it in a pressure cooker? That's what we use - we have 9 pie pumpkins we grew in the garden this year - and the pressure cooker is perfect.
I don't peel it before I cook it - is there a reason that you do? Once it's cooked it slides right off the peel.
Pumpkin beer - yum - we had Saranac pumpkin beer Saturday night. So good!!
I don't own a pressure cooker and have never used one actually. What else do you use it for?
This was my first time working with an entire pumpkin, so I googled it and decided to try two methods. The sites that advised to boil it, said to peel it and cube it first.
I vastly preferred the roasting method, that peel came off super easy. Out of two pumpkins (one fairly small and one pretty big) I ended up with almost 12 cups of pumpkin puree.
I would love to grow my own pumpkins, I am starting a rooftop garden on my apartment building next year and want to see if I can get away with some pumpkin. If I grew my own, and was spending a day processing enough pumpkin to have puree for months on end, I think it would be worth it. As it is, the pumpkins were cheaper then canned puree, but the labour involved was overkill. I think the more I do it though, I'll figure out the most efficient way and go from there.
Interesting that peeling is recommended for boiling. We put a steamer into the pressure cooker and it steams the pumpkin. Cooks in about 12 minutes once the cooker gets up to pressure - about 20 minutes total, roughly.
We use the pressure cooker for beans and other squash-type vegetables. Also beets. But I cook a lot of beans - chili and soups. Pressure cookers aren't that expensive and they are handy.
Pumpkin takes up a lot of garden space. Ours took over about 1/2 of the garden by the time we were done. But they are beautiful - they have really pretty yellow flowers.
The canned stuff is cheap but it's fun to grow your own. More rewarding. With the pressure cooker the time isn't too bad. I'd hate to have to peel it - ack! Roasting can dry the pumpkin out - I used to do it in the oven but no more.